Dejan Kovacevic, a lifelong Pittsburgher, is an award-winning sports columnist for Trib Total Media covering the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, Pitt and, recently, his fourth Olympics in Sochi, Russia. He also appears on WPXI-TV's 'Subway Final Word’ and hosts a weekly show on TribLIVE Radio. For 2011, he was named one of the country's top four columnists by the AP Sports Editors. For 2012, he was named one of the country's top three columnists by the National Headliners. For 2013, he was named the state's top columnist by the Keystone Press Awards and top columnist in Western Pennsylvania by the Golden Quills.

As the NHL enters the deep freeze of the Sochi Olympics, now seems the best time than ever to look at what the Pittsburgh Penguins have ahead of them after the break.

Penguins have collected 83 out of an available 116 points in 58 games for first place in the Metropolitan Division and the number one seed in the Eastern Conference. The team will have 26 games to starting February 27th against the Montreal Canadiens at home and ending April 13th at home against the Ottawa Senators.

Of those final 26 games, they’ll split between being at the friendly home of the Consol Energy Center and traveling on the road. Even more of a test will be the 17 games against teams that would qualify for the playoffs.

If the Penguins continue to collect 72% of the available points (52), they’ll end the season with 120 points, which would likely earn them the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.

Being at the top of the conference is nothing new for Pittsburgh and though the team could earn the President’s Trophy, regular season success will mean very little if it doesn’t come with the joy of lifting Lord Stanley’s Cup in June.

How the team can get there after four disappointing playoff exists could be more about the team staying healthy and getting back key players lost to injury for most of the season than any trades made by General Manager Ray Shero prior to the March 5th NHL Trade Deadline at 3 pm est.

We know Pascal Dupuis won’t be back from his knee injury and though the team put out a hopeful six week time table for Kris Letang’s absence from a potential career and life threatening stroke, I just cannot see him coming back this season. He’s a young man with a wife and child, made a few million dollars, and won a Stanley Cup, there’s no need to rush back.

Then there’s the questionable return of goaltender Tomas Vokoun from blood clots, another scary situation itself that could see the veteran back with the team before the season ends.

If Vokoun returns, it could put the Penguins in a tough spot with Jeff Zatkoff as the team apparently views him as Marc-Andre Fleury’s backup after signing him to a two year contract extension through the 2015-2016 season and would have to pass through waivers to be sent back to their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

The return of Vokoun would restrict the team’s ability to acquire additional help as his $2 million salary cap hit would be added back to the active roster.

On defense, many will point to the team’s disappointing veteran play of Brooks Orpik, Paul Martin and Rob Scuderi as a reason to find a top four smooth skating veteran to pair with Scuderi after losing Letang.

What is likely to happen is moving up the extremely successful pairing of Matt Niskanen and Olli Maatta into the top four and putting a younger partner on the third pairing with Scuderi.

The front office and coaching staff haven’t exactly shown much confidence in either Robert Bortuzzo and Simon Despres, nor will Head Coach Dan Byslma want rookies Philip Samuelsson and Brian Dumoulin on a team with aspirations of winning the Stanley Cup.

Most expected Niskanen to be traded prior to the season starting and no one expected the team to give Maatta much of a shot at the beginning of the season but all the rookie has done is score six goals and tally 17 assists while playing some outstanding positional defense.

If the Letang health situation will do anything, it could make General Manager Ray Shero pick up the phone with Niskanen’s agent and get a multi-year contract extension done as the team has to be concerned about their experience on the back end with Orpik and Deryk Engelland free agents after this season and Martin after the 2014-2015 season.

If Letang has to retire, losing Niskanen after this season could be a major blow to a team that has prided itself in building a strong foundation on defense.

As deep of a position the defense fields in the NHL and AHL, forward has been top heavy to say the least. If you add up the goals scored by Sidney Crosby, Chris Kunitz, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal and Jussi Jokinen, that accounts for 72% (109 of 152) of the goals scored by forwards this season.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Brandon Sutter’s seven goals as the leader on the third line isn’t good enough and the team will need to find some help on his line as the injuries have shuttled players off and on his line all season long.

What will the team decide to do with Beau Bennett upon his return from a wrist injury as he wasn’t exactly lighting it up on the scoreboard prior to the injury, scoring one goal in twelve games.

Does Bennett get a shot to play alongside Crosby and Kunitz on the right wing or does he have to earn his minutes on the third line with Sutter?

If Bennett gets a look on the first line, it further limits the scoring depth throughout the lineup and could have wingers Taylor Pyatt, Jayson Megna, Chuck Kobasew and Brian Gibbons competing for two spots on the third line with Sutter.

Not exactly a threat to scare teams come playoff time and that’s made worse with a fourth line of Tanner Glass, Joe Vitale (another one of the injured), and Craig Adams. A trio that work hard but little skill to put many pucks on net.

The last thing the Penguins need to face is a red-hot goaltender, stingy team defense, and a coaching staff planning to put their best defensive effort and attack against the Crosby and Malkin lines. If that happens, we saw what happened against Boston last year, an embarrassing and inept offensive performance.

Because of the way the team was shutdown last year and has struggled to mount much of anything all season from the third and fourth lines, the team would seem to have no choice but to go find a winger or two to add much needed depth.

Potential Changes

With the pending free agency of Orpik and his pronounced struggles since the criminal sucker punch by Boston’s Shawn Thornton, it might be wise to move the long-time veteran leader and there could be a match with the St. Louis Blues looking to win a title and possibly ready to move right wing Chris Stewart.

The Penguins have the cap space with Dupuis, Letang and Vokoun out of the lineup to acquire Stewart’s $4.15 million cap hit for this season and plenty of space next year with the cap increasing to around $71 million. The Blues are a deep team and losing the 26-year old Stewart would barely register as a major loss long-term.

Stewart has 15 goals, 17 assists, 106 shots on goal, 73 hits, averages 13:39 time on ice per game, and is signed through the 2014-2015 season.

The acquisition of Stewart could provide some much needed size and grit to put alongside Crosby and Kunitz. It would also end the merry-go-round of wingers that have played on the line since the Dupuis injury. It could also be a potential long-term acquisition that Shero has told reporters he’s looking to make this season.

For the third line, I’d look for someone who could play a solid two-way game and provide the team some or most of what the team lost with former winger Matt Cooke.

It will be interesting to see what the team decides to do here as they could look at Sabres center Steve Ott for the agitator with playoff experience or go off the board and look at Toronto forward Nikolai Kulemin.

If you ask me, I’d go with Kulemin as he can play on the top two lines if there’s an injury. He’s more physical than given credit with 105 hits and averages 2:37 per game on the penalty-kill. The salary cap situation for the Leafs could force them to move Kulemin for an AHL body and 2nd or 3rd round draft pick.

Those two moves could put the Penguins in position to better compete for the Stanley Cup than they are presently constructed.

– Crosby leads NHL in points (78) and assists (50)
– Niskanen leads NHL in plus/minus at +29
– Kunitz is 2nd in NHL with 12 Power Play goals, 3 behind Alexander Ovechkin
– Glass is 12th in NHL with 174 hits
– Niskanen is 12th among Defensemen in scoring with 34 points
– Maatta is 2nd among Rookie defensemen in scoring with 23 points
– Sutter is 3rd among NHL forwards having played in at least 50 games and 2 minutes of SH TOI/GM with 935 Save % while 4on5 (PK).

In honor of Drew, I probably can write about 10,000 words about the Pirates and their need for a first baseman and how the fascination by the media and fans on A.J. Burnett’s ‘should I stay or should I go’ act is allowing the team off the hook for a horrendous offseason.

Neal used to make just horrible trades. But he’s been on a hot streak for the last 18 months or so. I think he’s got another one up his sleeve right now as we speak, and is just waiting for others to blink first. Kendrys Morales has to sign somewhere, which, if not Seattle, will bump some other first baseman. I still gotta believe Mitch Moreland will be traded. Those are just two scenarios yet to play out. Ol’ Neal has shown he can win by biding his time.

Wow. I hope DK has you on the payroll as a second columnist, or at least brings you home a souvenir from Sochi.

This is a very comprehensive look at the Pens, and you didn’t put a single “Fire Bylsma” in there. Very thoughtful……. and spot on about regular season success not meaning much without a Cup. Out of all the stats you provided, the one that concerns me the most for the playoffs would be the faceoff %. That is critical.

I won’t even get into the potential for trades. names we don’t even think about could be had, or not. That’s why I say “In Shero We trust”.

I’m hardly faulting individual Pitt players’ efforts yesterday, but I would certainly hope that the Panthers will do better against Syracuse on Wednesday than 37% off the floor, and, as Coach Jamie Dixon said, Pitt needs to improve.

I’m with you on the proposed trades and lineup, but it would be hard to believe the Blues would trade Stewart straight up for Orpik. He has been consistently awful and should be demoted for Depres regardless of the trade. Based on the minutes in the last few games, the Bortuzzo-Scuds pairing has dropped below the Maatta-Musky pairing. The addition to the 3rd line forward contingent will be more important than a 1st line addition. Really like the idea of signing Nisky to an extension regardless of Letang’s recovery time.

Excellent stuff as always Eric….
I know we talk about lack of bottom 6 and don’t disagree that Sutter needs to be better….but I think 3rd and 4th lines would look a lot better if proper Ws acquired for Crosby….and Malkin. So glad you mentioned Kulemin….Malkin was a beast w him retrieving pucks on LW in KHL…with an acquisition for Sid too….now you’ve got the likes of Bennet and Juicy (and Duper next yr) shoring up the third line, and perhap Pyatt or Megna displacing Gladams…..though I doubt DB could allow that….But a girl can dream can’t she?

Thanks, I’ll blame the the non Fire Bylsma commentary on the fact that I wrote this after midnight. LOL.

And glad you noticed the faceoff stat because if Bylsma is going to stick around, then having centers that can win faceoffs is quite important, especially in the defensive zone.

Brandon Sutter starts 43% of his shifts in the offensive zone but 50% finish there and that’s with him winning a disappointing 48% of his draws. That has to mean Sutter is playing some outstanding positional hockey after the puck is dropped.

In October, they changed his medicine to a very low dosage of erythromycin and by early November he was no longer vomiting. After a year of not knowing why he was sick, he’s finally healthy. He stopped taking the erythromycin in January and just takes prilosec twice a day.

How many blogs, twitter posts, sports articles, tv station reports, radio segments have been on the topic of the Pirates first base situation… very few. It isn’t the sexy story.

Now how many have been on A.J. Burnett?

Horrendous from my perspective.

They spent millions for a fifth starter (Edinson Volquez) that was the worst starting pitcher in baseball last season. Who thinks Jeff Locke, Wandy Rodriguez, Brandon Cumpton, and Jeanmar Gomez will be better than Burnett?

Wouldn’t the Pirates rotation be better with Burnett and then that mix of possibilities (minus Volquez) holding the fifth spot until Jameson Taillon was ready?

Now, Neal Huntington can acquire a first baseman before opening day and I’ll go from horrendous to just ok. Teams with 94 wins need to do more than they did this winter.

How about writing 10,000 words on how the Pirates managed to win 94 games in spite of a .708 OPS from Garrett Jones and a .618 OPS from Travis Snider in the lineup?

Maybe you could do 10,000 words on how Huntington was an idiot for not bringing up Lambo last summer, and is now an idiot because he intends to go with Lambo at first to start the season?

I’d welcome 10,000 words on all of the times that Huntington bowed to fan pressure when making personnel decisions, myself. A lot of the same folks I see complaining about the off season here and elsewhere were the same folks who were predicting losing season number 21 at this time last year. Maybe you could do a few words on why I should prefer their judgments to Huntington’s.

DK: I’m pretty sure I could cover an Olympics on Pluto and not be far enough away from this garbage. No offense. Not you. The topic.

I was wondering before church today if DK could possibly write a column from Sochi on the Bucs’ offseason, in 10 words or less, with that beautiful mountain backdrop he had on Twitter and him holding a mic in the foreground.

Great story on Lauren Williams from Sochi, Dejan. Is LoLo in that #1 sled also?

I think the biggest factor in how the Pens will do in this postseason may be special teams units. They remain at, or near the top in both penalty killing and PP efficiency in the NHL this season. If the officials swallow their whistles to a large degree in the playoffs, that actually hurts the Pens both ways.

Also, even though we lost in shootout on Friday, the Pens have excelled in those situations over the past 2 years. The Pens are racking up plenty of wins in those situations, while I notice the power teams of the West have a lot of OT losses on their resumes. Here in Chicago, fans lament the Blackhawks’ mediocre or worse performance in shootouts. Well, the fact is, it is nice that the Pens have been able to pad their record in shootouts, but those don’t happen in the playoffs.

First base might not be the sexy story but I don’t think it means that the media’s fascination with Burnett has left the Pirates ‘off the hook’. I think there have been plenty of reporting/talking/posting about why the Pirates haven’t spend additional monies on first base – or someone better than Volquez.

I don’t know what that “fan” said to Smart last night in Lubbock. I also don’t know why Smart reacted the way he did. He wasn’t using his head in shoving the guy. And, I know he has had anger issues this year. But, what makes a paying customer want to incite a college player like that? He obviously said something offensive to Smart. Isn’t watching the game enough?

That guy and his wife will now be shown on TV replays a million times a day for the next week. I would be so embarrassed knowing I said something that made a player react like that to me, and that it is now all over the media. I would want to crawl in a hole. Somehow, though, I have a feeling that guy won’t be embarrassed at all. He probably thinks what he did was pretty cool because he got on TV.

Thanks DK, for all you are bringing us; I’m looking forward to every day’s new info!

I offer a shout out to my Penn State men’s hockey team, who won their first Big Ten game last night with a 4 – 0 win over Michigan. After 8 straight league losses, many of them tight games, it was great to be there and watch the Lions break through. The atmosphere at the Pegula was electric!

Michigan is coached by (the almost legendary) Red Berenson. Some of you on the blog are old enough to remember that name from NHL days.

I heard something this morning about that guy doing stuff like this regularly – meaning, I guess, taunting, personal insults, whatever. I don’t know if that is true entirely, but this does not appear to be the first time he inserted himself in the proceedings.

At this point, the Pens’ biggest need is upgrading the bottom 6. They’ll be ok if they have to go with Bennett or even Gibbons or Megna on Sid’s line. He’ll continue to be a threat regardless, as will the awesome second line. But that third line desperately needs a guy like Steve Ott to add some grit and scoring and make Sutter’s group tougher to play against. Getting Sid a winger might cost too much now that Letang is out of the picture, but Shero can no doubt upgrade the third line without mortgaging his best D prospects.

I’d love to see Despres get the call over Bortuzzo with Letang out, but it’s probably unlikely. The underperforming old guys on D are a problem. Orpik will not be traded in a million years (although I’d support such a move.) Shero definitely has to let Orpik walk this offseason, and probably Engelland and Niskanen too (can’t overpay for one good season – someone out there will give Nisky $5 mil/year.) If Letang returns healthy, I’d seriously consider using a compliance buyout on Scuderi to get out of that contract and let the young guys play.

Even in the worst-case scenario, if Letang never comes back, that would still leave the Pens with a solid D group, which speaks to the genius of Shero for stockpiling this position:

Lastly, the fact that the Pens are #1 in PP and #2 in PK worries me greatly. The last I checked, they were something like 10th in the NHL when it comes to 5 on 5. That ain’t gonna get it done in the playoffs. Teams that win primarily due to their special teams tend to flame out quickly in the playoffs (the Canadiens seem to make a habit of this.) Improving that third line should greatly help the 5 on 5 play.

That is good to see. Also, thank you for the interesting column assessing the Penguins needs, strengths, and potential trades. Placing the stats in the column provides a much needed perspective for the casual fan.

A Tale of Two AJs
…or…
The Return of the King
…or…
War and Peace and AJ
…or…
Crime and Punishment and AJ
…or…
Les Miserables Pirates
…or…
Invisible Man
…or…
Great Expectations
…or…
The Grapes of AJ (he does appear to have big ones)
…or…
The Idiot (oh wait; that’s about me)

Stellar piece on Lauryn Williams. I will certainly be cheering her and the other US representatives on to victory in their respective events. It really speaks to her character and work ethic that she has been able to come back rejuvenated, refreshed, and reinvented for these games. One again, nice work DK.

I was shocked to see that Lauryn Williams is in the Winter Olympics. It’s a great credit to her. And it’s also nice to see that there are still some sports out there that don’t require training your entire life in order to excel at. It’s cool that athletes like Williams, who play sports where they are considered over the hill at age 25, can have some other options if they’re willing to work for it.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman said on Friday that they expect Tanaka to, hopefully, be a solid #3 starter. I get that he is trying to tamp down expectations of Yankees fans and not put too much pressure on Tanaka as he eases into his new league/new country/new team.

But, you just paid $175 million for the guy, Brian. Who do you think you are fooling? That may have been one of the silliest statements to come out of a GM’s mouth in a long time.

In fairness to the Yankees for risking that kind of dough on a guy who has never pitched against American hitters, I have it on relatively good authority that the Yankess are, in fact, in the top half of MLB teams regarding their TV contract.

If no one signs Morales, doesn’t the draft pick compensation go away? June, maybe? I tought I read that somewhere. If Huntington doesn’t acquire anyone else for 1b, and Morales is still unsigned in June, and Lambo struggles out of the gate, does that make him a possibility for the Bucs? Of course, I think that makes him a possibility for a lot of teams.

Draft pick comp is definitely the hang up on Kendrys right now. I think a lot of teams would be interested otherwise.

Eric’s hockey analysis is one of the many reasons I come here to read and learn.

No comment necessary with respect to DK’s professionalism. To me, DK continues to be head and shoulders above his contemporaries in matters of all around knowledge and the ability to express it succinctly.

About the Pens – I don’t know the reason for it, but my eyes tell me the Pens turn the puck over far too often in their own end. They fix it for a game or two, but seem to revert back to it. Obviously the standings say “your eyes lie, don’t worry.” Perhaps, but if not fixed, it will be their downfall come playoff time, in my opinion.

That was penn states best game so far that i’ve seen. Dmen cut back on the repetitive mistakes they’ve been making and the coach finally started to juggle the lines to create chemistry. They’ve been way to predictable up until recently, especially with their breakouts. Skoff really stepped up in net yesterday as well. He and Mcadam have been giving the squad a good chance to get w’s most nights but recently have been doing good job of pushing each other even more so. Not a PSU football fan but hope the hockey program takes off.

Can’t agree. We need ELITE on Sid/Genos wing. Not Gibbons, Adams Glass or the water Boy.
Bennett….maybe, dunno.
The whole problem is teams collapse on Sid and Malkin and dare their Ws to do something and there isn’t enough talent there.

Last time I asked, I think he was just put on the new medicine. I was a bit slack in not checking up on him, as you were very concerned about the vomiting. Bet he is happy to finally have a normal time with this.

You sure Cashman signed him? Last year it was reported Cashman wanted to keep Martin. When the C situation in NY fell apart, they then chased Mccann. Its been reported many times Cashman never wanted anything to do with Arod from go.

I’m not saying Cashman hasn’t made his fair share of blunders. I just think owners with deeper pockets seem to meddle more with the roster than the penny pinchers….i think Tanaka is going to be Hideki arabu part 2, pitching in that park half the time.

I’m not really lamenting it either. I just find it interesting while even injured last year he still managed to outpitch Volquez. You wonder if the 3.5 million dollar difference may have helped getting AJ.

I always thought the problem Maholm, Duke and Gorzo had, was that they were virtually the same type of pitcher.

I did run today’s Couch to 5K in the cold and snow, that was fun. Then paid some bills and just filed my 2013 tax return for Federal and State. What a root canal that is. Got more money back this year so I can’t be too mad.

Speaking of wanting your money back, think Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle are wondering the same as it relates to Rob Scuderi. He’s been nothing like the player that won a Stanley Cup with the Penguins (paired w/ Hal Gill) and Kings (paired with Drew Doughty).

Watching cross-country skiing and awesome, an American falls, an Italian breaks his pole and then gets elbowed in the face to lose 34 seconds. No chance to medal after that. Ouch.

Didn’t know that Jim. Very, very interesting to learn about the comp pick falling away. Would be extremely interesting to see a scenario like you describe playing out. Morales would have to sit tight without playing for a few months, but then both he and suitors would be completely free to talk turkey.

1) He is a white fan in Texas.
2) He has the blessing of the AD, and former coach……. saying he is a “great fan”, “we never had a problem with him ever” …. the sense of entitlement of these fans is mind-boggling. Given he apparently done this many times before, I don’t see this ending anytime soon.

For starters, the “N” word’s meaning has been perverted by small narrow minded people. Second, as a woman in an inter species (yes…species…he is a white guy who works at 2:30 in the morning…I am dark chocolate and I work when it’s light out) I have learner to ignore the flamin’ ignorance some knuckle dragging mouth breathers show by realizing that there words are there to knock me off of my game.

That is not to say that the young man who was insulted may not have issues with crack or any other drug addiction in his immediate family, but everytime one reacts to these “Norman Einstein’s” they win. My advice to that young man is to hang in there, finish your education, and do not let this Colorado your views of those that are different than you.

The only way Paul Maholm makes $1.5m is if he is completely worthless. If he pitches as he’s acquired to, he’ll make $5m in incentives, on top of the $1.5m guaranteed.

The only thing exeptionally good about that contract is the small amount of risk placed on the Dodgers. The total amount is right around what Maholm was excpected to make.

We obviously aren’t able to see medical records, and Paul did have elbow problems late in the year. You gotta wonder if this is why he had to sign an incentive-laden contract, similar to Liriano and Mike Napoli last year.

Paul Zeise was kind of funny on the Fan about this. He said he’ll never understand guys like this guy who revel in being known as the biggest jerk fan (since he’s apparently been known by everybody for years.)

Pascal Dupuis is hardly elite and the Pens have advanced deep into the playoffs with him on Sid’s wing. The Pens won a Cup with Bill Guerin and Ryan Malone on Sid’s and Geno’s wings. Neither is even close to elite. So history refutes your assertion.

Actually, I’m just sorry that Bode Miller finished 8th in downhill skiing in Sochi today, while Jamie Anderson picked up the gold in slope style and the US has now 4 metals total: two golds and two bronzes.P

Sports Illustrated has quoted 8 NFL execs as saying anonymously that the league is still not. Prepared for an openly gay athlete and Michael Sam’s draft stock has gone way down as the result of his admission.